Four people were found guilty of being part of a Liverpool-based gang supplying vast quantities of heroin.

Prosecutors said the group funnelled hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of the Class A drug from Merseyside across Britain.

Liverpool Crown Court heard there was a conspiracy to supply the heroin over a 13-month period from May 2014 to June this year.

Ian Unsworth, QC, prosecuting, said: “The prosecution suggest the men and women in the dock were all members of a criminal enterprise that was responsible for the supply of heroin across the length and breadth of the land.

“This was a ruthless enterprise, driven forward with great energy and industry, and which was no doubt extremely profitable for those at the helm.

“From its hub here in Liverpool, the tentacles of this criminal organisation spread to the south of England, South Wales and Scotland.”

Police raided a drugs factory in Lidderdale Road, Wavertree on January 15, uncovering more than two kilos of heroin and eight kilos of caffeine and paracetamol.

The jury heard two men, who were among a number of other defendants to already admit the conspiracy, were caught inside wearing gloves with brown powder on them.

Mr Unsworth said telephone and automatic number plate recognition evidence would show journeys made by couriers and demonstrate the involvement of the defendants.

He said: “Liverpool was at the centre of the conspiracy. It was there that importation quality heroin would be sourced, provided to wholesalers, and then adulterated and packaged before being distributed.”

Mr Unsworth told the jury that Thomas Burns, 32, of no fixed address but from Liverpool, was a courier travelling the country and delivering drugs to local distributors.

He alleged that Dionne Hobbs, 31, of Howe Circle, and Jamaal Swaby, 21, of Chepstow Road, both in Newport, South Wales, took delivery of drugs to pass them onto dealers.

He told the jury that Beth Flower, 28, of Russell Court, Tavistock, Devon, was a drugs wholesaler in the South West, while Candice Gorman, 31, of Millside Gardens in Irvine, Scotland, and John Williamson, 51, of Tulloch Terrace, Perth, Scotland, also took deliveries from couriers.

The defendants all denied conspiracy to supply heroin.

Burns, Flower, Gorman and Williamson were all found guilty. Swaby pleaded guilty at the start of the trial.

They will be sentenced in April, alongside the other conspirators that have already admitted the offence.